Hehe, not really sure how often i'll be updating this, but i'll try my best ;)

Yay, my second story! Another bleach one with the same concept of Ichi going insane, but i do love experimenting with that sort of thing :D

'When someone is thinking'

Expression on that particular word

Authors note

The laughter was unbearable. It sounded in Ichigos head, ricotcehing off the walls of his mind. That god damned hollow was taking it too far.
'HAHAHAHAHAHA! How long until you crack, King? You're crumbling up without me even trying!' The hollow version of himself mocked tauntingly, its voice a ghostly echo of his own. 'Whats the matter? Scared?' He seemed to be closer at the last part, as if to intimidate.
"Go to hell. Its where you belong." Ichigo replied, trying to muster up all the courage in his heart. As much as he tried to hide it, he had to admit it. It felt like he was closer to death than ever. It was a funny feeling. He had never really been afraid of death. His resolve was aways so much stronger.
'Hehehe, probabley. But for now, your stuck to me. You already know its too late to do anything about it. Just admit. You're dead meat.' Its reply was filled with confidence, the element Ichigo was lacking. The truth was, he knew he was fighting a losing battle. He wasnt thick though. He knew how hollows worked. Once he was eventually swallowed up, his friends and fammily would be the first to die, and will more than likely suffer a slow and painful death. He wasnt about to let that happen though. He was gonna protect them no matter what.
"Shut up. I can hold the fort as long as i need to." Ichigo's voice was hoarse and raw as a result of the fear bottled up inside of him. His hollow could sense this, and it made his mental state even weaker. His sanity was rapidly deteriating.
"I'll stop you! I wont let you touch them!"
'Hehehehehehehe... You seem pretty confident now, but when the time comes, what will you do?' The hollow asked, relishing Ichigos terrified retaliations.
Ichigo went silent. The thing had a point. There really wasnt much he could do to prevent the innevitable. Mayby he could consult Kisuke? No, he had done enough. Mayby the Visoreds could teach him some more? But none of them have had a problem like this, so its unlikely they had a solution. Damn.
The hollow let out a crazed laugh at Ichigos sudden drop in volume.
'I thought as much! You're pathetic king! You give up so easily!' It chuckled in its doubled voice. 'And thats why you lose...!'
With that, the ugly presence left Ichigos mind and he found himself lying on his bed drenched in cold sweat. He had to do something. Anything! Things could'nt go like this! Racking his brains, Ichigo searched for a solution, but nothing came to mind. Deciding to throw in the towl for the night, Ichigo drifted into an uneasy sleep. He couldnt wait for dawn to arrive.

The next day, Ichigo awoke with a start. He had a throbbing head ache and felt worse than he had when he went to sleep. A sudden buzzing sound from his phone made him jump. Why was he so jumpy all of a sudden? Picking it up, he saw that there were four missed calls from Rukia. Wierd. His ring tone should have woke him up. Did something happen?
Rukia wasnt at breakfast that morning, and Ichigo was starting to worry. There were no messages left on his answer phone so he couldnt figure out what had happened to her. Had she gone back to Soul Society? That was probably it, but still, something didnt feel right. A vibration came from Ichigo's pocket, alerting him that he had a text. It was from Kisuke, and it simply read 'Meet at shop immeadiatly!'. Ichigo let out a sigh. This didnt sound good.

Ichigo rushed to the shop to find the usual group of people (Minus Rukia) sitting around a table in the back room. They looked up at his arrival, but then looked back down again sadly. What was going on?

Ichigo sat down next to Chad, still wondering what was up. Kisuke, noticing this explained.

"It seems that Miss Kuchiki was attacked last night." He said calmly. Ichigos eyes widened in shock, wishing that Kisuke would be more gentle when dropping bombshells like that. "Im afraid her conditions pretty bad, and im not sure if she'll make it..." And there he goes again with the bad news...

"What do you mean 'not sure if she'll make it'! Your meant to be good at saving people! Who did it? I'll kick their ass's!" Ichigo spouted the comments in fury. Nobody did that to his friend!
Kisuke looked at bit shocked at the boys reaction, but seemed to be expecting worse. "We're not entirely sure who did it or why. We just noticed the sudden drop in her reiatsu and went to see what was wrong."

The others nodded their heads at this. Apparently, Ichigo was the only one who hadnt sensed it. When he mentioned this, Uryu merely used this as an excuse to milk Ichigo's weaknesses, reminding everyone how bad he was at sensing reiatsu. Ichigo turned away silently fuming, when Kisuke added something that caught his attention. "We did find Arrancar-like reiatsu in her wounds you know."

The room went into silence. Evidently, Kisuke had left this part out when he had explained it to the others. Uryu was the one to break the ice. "Arrancar reiatsu? But we should have sensed something like that!"
"I know." Kisuke Said, his voice suddenley darkening. "Thats whats troubling."

At the confused looks on everones face, Kisuke began to explain. "Well" He started. "I just so happened to be keeping an eye on the arrancar activities in case Aizen wanted to mobilize his troops early. Because of this, i know for a fact that no Garraganta have been opened recentley before the attack. This means that whoever attacked Miss Kuchiki has been here a while." This time, Orihime piped up. "Well, mayby they came when the espada attacked a while back?" It was a good idea, but Kisuke already had an aswer for that. "Why wait so long? They've had all the time in the world to kill us!" This shut her up.

Kisuke Continued his lecture. " I also know that no Garraganta have been opened since the attack. This means..." "...That they're still here." Uryu finnished the sentence for him. Everyone quickly grasped the situation without any further explanations. With an arrancar about town, the casualties would be rolling in! What to do...

"Alright guys, if you see or hear anything, then you must tell me immedeatly."

Taking this as a way of saying 'get lost and go find the sucker', everyone got up and left. Kisuke himself got up to examine the said reiatsu more thouroghly. If he could familiarise himself with it, then he should be able to track the source down wherever it was. The more he spent time around the straggle of reiatsu, the more he felt lik it was familiar to him... What was it? It kind of felt like... No. It cant be! It must be from Kuchiki. The two come into contact pretty often, so that must be it. Despite the obvious explanation, something still didnt feel quite right.

There was as suprising drop in the number of hollows running around Karakura town. No doubt that damn Arrancar was scaring them away. Speaking of the Arrancar, it hadnt made a move sice Rukias attack, nor had anyone seen it. Rukia was still unconcious, but according to Kisuke was going to pull through. 'I swear if that bastard attacks anyone else, i'll kick him so hard up the ass...' Ichigo thought as he wandered away from school through an empty park with Chad, Uryu, Orihime and Tatsuki. Orihime was blabbing about some TV program she watched last night to Tatsuki, Chad and Uryu seeming to be in their own little worlds (much like Ichigo himself). Tatsuki remembered she had a Karate class and ran off, leaving Orihime to talk to the others.
They just pretended to listen, nodding and agreeing whenever she paused. They knew she was just trying to lighten the mood and act normally, but they were to busy thinking to themselves to care. Ichigo thought about where else he could look for the Arrancar. The whole lot of them had already been round town several times, and still nothing. 'I swear to god if they've hurt someone else, i'll rip their freaking guts out!'

'My My, thinking violent thoughts are we King?'
Ichigos eyes widened in shock. Though the pshyco's interuption had become a regular thing, they usually occured late at night when his mind was tired, not in the day when he was wide awake. Or when there were people around... What if they noticed something?
'What the hell do you want now!' Ichigo asked inwardley, not realising he had stopped walking. 'Heh, i just wanted to talk King... I get so lonely cooped up in your inner world...'
"Go away."

Orihime, Chad, and Uryu turned around and looked back at Ichigo when they heard him talk to himself. He was standing there staring directly in front of himself, and seemed to be scared of something.
'If you let me out then i wouldnt bother you about such things, and it woud be much easier for you.' The hollow tried to gain control of their body again, Ichigo instinctively pushing it back with his Reiatsu. The unexpected attempt to escape sent a shockwave of pain through the boys head, making him clasp it in his hands and scrunching his hair into his fists.
"Go away!" Ichigo shouted it this time. The three ahead of him ran up to their friend with worry in their eyes. They had never seen him like this before... What had happened? "Kurosaki-kun, whats wrong!" "Are you ok Kurosaki?" "Ichigo?"
'Hahahahahahahahahaha! You cant keep denying me forever! Your weaker than ever, your getting weaker still! How long until i can take control fully!' Another manic laugh was unleashed, so demented that it sent shivers down his spine.

"SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! PLEASE, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" A louder shout than last time, and even Uryu was confused to what was going on. "Kurosaki-kun, please snap out of it! You're scaring me!" Orihime seemed terrified to go near him, and was taking tentative steps backwards. Chad and Uryu just looked bewilderd and worried about what was unfolding before them.
'Hehehehe... They'll be the first to go king... If you just submit to me now, i promise not to play with them to much!"
"No! I wont let you touch them! You wont get anywhere near them, you hear me!"
Uryu grabbed Ichigos shoulders and began shaking him violently. "What are you talking about Kurosaki! Whats going on, who is it!" Ichigo merely slumped to the ground and loosened the grip on his head. The last thing the orange haired boy heard before he slipped into unconciosness was the demented laughter of his hollow as he forcefully took control of the withered boys body.

Wow, three guesses who attacked Rukia... I litereally only just realised how obvious it is. Seriously. Im that retarded. I also only just realised how freakin short this chapter is. I have been working on this since before christmas, and its only 3 and a half pages long (excluding author notes).

But worry not! Now that it has been uploaded i shall put ten times more effort into writing this! :D Muahahaha! There is nowhere to run Ichigo!

Me: Ichi~! Lets write the next chapter! 3

Ichigo: ! *Runs away*

Me: *Laughs evily and starts writing about Ichigos doom*

Ichigo: *Hides in emo corner* I do not look forward to this -.-'